Stats:
No. of players: 2 – 5
Amount of time to play: 60 minutes
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time:  10 min

Description of Pandemic On the Brink:

I recently got Pandemic: On the Brink and really think it adds some nice options to the base game (Pandemic). The expansion keeps gameplay mostly the same but adds some difficulty and some new roles to the experience.

One of the best things Pandemic: On the Brink does is allow up to five people to play the game. It also adds six new roles and revises the Operations manager. The new roles are Archivist, Containment Specialist, Epidemiologist, Field Operative, Generalist, and Troubleshooter. Each new role adds something different and gives more variety to the play experience. There are eight new Special Events that also help create a little variety. Also if you think Pandemic is too easy you can now play on Legendary level which adds a seventh epidemic card to the deck.

The other changes are mostly new scenarios. The three scenarios are Virulent Strain Challenge, Mutation Challenge and the Bio-Terrorist Challenge. The Virulent Strain Challenge makes one disease become particularly deadly in unpredictable ways. The Mutation Challenge adds a fifth disease that behaves differently than the original four. The Bio-Terrorist Challenge pits one player against all the others.

Lastly the expansion adds some nice cosmetic changes to the game. There are smaller pawns as the ones from the original game are kind of big. Pandemic: On the Brink also includes a petri dish for each type of disease. These help with storage a bit but mostly add a cool-factor. It adds to the theme more to pull the diseases out of a petri dish as opposed to a sorted pile.

A Quick Review of Pandemic on the Brink:

The new roles are fun and add some interesting new tactics. The scenarios are tough, but if you have played a lot of Pandemic you may be looking to spice things up. The cosmetic changes and new Operations Manager are nice tweaks that make all the above definitely worth the price of the expansion.

Like I said in my review of Pandemic, I still think this can seem to play like solitaire. The best decisions are still pretty obvious, but the new roles definitely add to the discussion of what is best.

If you like Pandemic you will certainly like Pandemic: On the Brink. It adds some interesting changes and variety you should enjoy.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6